Lotus: Jolyon Palmer makes his grand debut in Shanghai
The highlight of this first day of testing at the Chinese Grand Prix was found in the Lotus garage. Indeed, Jolyon Palmer made his Formula 1 debut in an official competition, driving the E23. On track in the afternoon, Romain Grosjean is satisfied with his car.
During FP1, Romain Grosjean had to give up his race car to Lotus team’s test driver, Jolyon Palmer. The Briton managed a rather decent 15th time for his first official experience: « I’ve been waiting for a long time to get my hands on the E23 during a Grand Prix weekend, and I’m not disappointed. The track was quite green and slippery at the start, and I had to learn the layout quite quickly. But overall, I’m quite happy with my fifteenth place. »
Less happy, Grosjean would have liked to participate in both sessions today: Obviously, I would have preferred to be in the car for both sessions, but we had a good afternoon and we’re still happy to be in the top ten [editor’s note: 9th in FP2]. We completed a good number of laps, and the car is fundamentally quite strong. As always, there are certain areas we can improve, but we made a good start to the weekend.
With the two 11th places of Maldonado in the morning and afternoon, Lotus seems to have laid good foundations for a successful weekend as technical director Alan Permane wishes: « A good day for us with no issues to report. We are looking forward to seeing what is possible tomorrow. »
